VacationSelector
Bryggen across Vågen, Bergen
BergenBryggen across Vågen
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Bergen by Abdullah Guc, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Bergen or Chicago?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Bergen for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Bergen’s own page.

Choose Chicago for

  • nightlife
  • shopping
  • food and drink

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Bergen 20, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Food & drink. Bergen 47, Chicago 80: Chicago leads by 33 points.
Culture & sights. Bergen 55, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Bergen 40, Chicago 77: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bergen 88, Chicago 48: Bergen leads by 40 points.
Day trips. Bergen 38, Chicago 42: Chicago leads by 4 points.
Good for families. Bergen 60, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 18 points.
Getting around. Bergen 74, Chicago 72: Bergen leads by 2 points.
Shopping & style. Bergen 33, Chicago 70: Chicago leads by 37 points.
Affordability. Bergen 12, Chicago 33: Chicago leads by 21 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bergen 58, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 24 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bergen 32, Chicago 33: Chicago leads by 1 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bergen and Chicago.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Bergen
46match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and getting around with your weighting.

Chicago
Best match
62match

Wins on nightlife and shopping with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Bergen in July

20 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
159 mmrain in the month
15 °Csea
18 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
BergenChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bergen: 1991-2020 normals, Bergen / Florida (1.2 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBergenChicago
Official languageNorwegian, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Sámi-
CurrencyNorwegian Krone (NOK)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 112, ambulance 113, fire 110911
Elevation5 m179 m
Main airportBergen Airport, Flesland (BGO)12 km from centre64 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBergenChicago
City population291,1892,746,388
People per km²3,3394,529
Museums within 10 km3144
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km11
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bergen or Chicago somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.